Affordable sheet-fed photo scanner from Epson

An interesting Photokina release which slipped under the radar is the Epson FastFoto FF-640 high-speed photo scanner.It’s a sheet fed scanner that can scan a 6×4-inch print at 300dpi in as little as one second. It retails in the US for around US$600 but Epson currently has no plans to launch the unit in Australia.

Featuring a 30-photo auto feeder, FastFoto scans photos to a designated hard drive, and offers tools to support easy uploading to services such as Facebook, Dropbox and Google Drive to share with family and friends (or customers).

Unlike most scanning solutions, FastFoto scans both the front and back of photos and postcards in a single pass, capturing valuable dates and personal handwritten notes. Epson’s scanning software also features a unique naming system to organize photo collections with recognisable file and folder names, searchable metadata, and a capture date that aligns with the date of the photo, not the date the image was scanned.

Epson’s Smart Photo Fix (SPF) Technology ‘refreshes’ old photos with colour restoration, red-eye reduction and auto enhancements. The scanner has Dynamic Skew Correction (DSC) and a multi-roller paper feed design to automatically correct the angle at which a photo or document enters the scanner.

FastFoto also includes a special handling sheet to protect small, old, damaged, or fragile photos, while a sensor helps avoid missing any photos or mis-feeds. Auto Size Detection makes it easy to scan multiple sizes in a single stack.

In addition to photos, the FastFoto scanning system can serve as a document scanner, running as fast as 45 ppm/90 ipm2. FastFoto 640 Photo Scanner will scan documents to email, an online storage account, or any folder on your PC. FastFoto includes a TWAIN, is compatible with Windows and Mac OS and includes OCR software for creating searchable PDFs or scanning into editable formats.

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